Deck Building Card Game

David, is there some way I/you can control who has access to this thread? I don't mind if you and the other players see my ideas but I am not sure I want any web trawler to see it. Thanks.

So are you going to lay out the rules and description here or what? Or am I missing something? Where is the draft game?

Well I was hoping that David would secure this thread in some way so only you all could see it. Guess not. I have been working on a rough draft of an executive summary so if I don't hear anything from him by tomorrow I will just post it. What the hey. What are the chances anyone will copy it anyway.

Do we know he has not secured this thread?

David?

I logged out and could still read this thread so it does not seems secure to me.

A quick search for Amber Card Games turned this up.

http://www.angelfire.com/games2/warpspawn/Amber.html

Ok I had this idea when I was playing another deck building game that I could do it better. I thought that using the characters, artifacts and events from Roger Zelazny’s Amber series would be perfect for the theme of the game. Though if licensing proved to be unprofitable or unlikely then I could easily rename most of the things and use the mechanics for another theme. (Warring states period china comes to mind.)

Ok to set up the game first you have to separate the cards into 3 main stacks and then player decks.

The Plot deck is a set of cards that enable the players to gain Power. The deck is shuffled and then the top five cards are turned over and placed in a line to the right of the deck. The cards represent different things that the character does to increase their personal power. These Plot cards are never placed in the player’s deck, when completed they are put into the Plot Deck discard pile. Examples include: walking a pattern, hellride, shift shadow, fighting brothers, etc. When the last Plot Deck cards is drawn, the Plot Deck discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new Plot Deck.

The Power Deck is a set of cards that the players buy to put into their deck to make their character more powerful. The deck is shuffled and the top 5 cards are placed in a line to the right of the deck. These cards represent powers and abilities of characters such as; Trump in help, Trump out, (more?). In play testing I notice that not much moves in the Power deck. Most of the powers are Psyche based and it seems difficult to build up Psyche to the levels needed for the powers in the Power Deck. I may need a separate deck of cards that can be bought to add Psyche to a character, possibly a generic card labled ‘Trump’. In play these cards are bought and put in the player’s discard pile. When Power cards are drawn they are used and put into the discard pile. During play it is also possible that Power cards will be discarded from the overturned cards. These are placed in a Power Deck discard pile. If the Power deck is ever exhausted, they are shuffled and become the new Power Deck.

The last main stack is the Item Deck. The deck is shuffled and the top 5 cards are placed in a line to the right of the deck. These cards represent things, people, and places (shadows). Players can buy and put these cards into their discard pile. When Artifact and Place cards are drawn they are placed next to the character card and left in play until destroyed, are taken from the player or discarded. Ally cards are used and then placed in the discard pile. (A different version I might try would allow Ally cards to remain in play also, simpler and faster but requires more table space.)
Power Tokens are placed in a Power Token Pool to the left of the three decks.

The player decks start at 12 cards. 2 Artifact cards, warfare and psyche cards. (Corwin and Eric both start with 2 Psyche cards and 8 warfare cards, others might get a different starting mix.) Each player chooses a deck. If two players want the same deck, the youngest gets first choice. Take the Prince/Princess card out of the deck and put it in front of you. On the card are the attributes of your character. (Eric and Corwin are both 1 Psyche and 5 Warfare) Warfare is the character’s ability in combat and commanding military units. Psyche is intelligence and a toughness of the mind and spirit. These attributes combined with Artifacts from your deck and cards in your hand represent your resources at a particular time. There is one more attribute, that of power. Characters will gain power through their actions and they can spend that power to increase an attribute (Psyche, Warfare or Power). We will discuss this more when we talk about play.

The final action of the set up phase is that the player puts their Character card on the table in front of them. The Character card tells the Warfare and Psyche score of the Character. They shuffle their deck and draw cards. The oldest player starts first.
Order of play:
1. The player draws 5 cards.

2. The player puts any artifact cards next to their character card. These cards remain on the character unless taken, destroyed or discarded.

3. The player then uses their attribute points to complete any Plot Cards or purchase Power Card or Item Cards.
a. Plot Cards are completed by matching (or exceeding) the attribute points on the card. After the points are paid the player gains Power tokens equal to the number stated on the card, cards used to pay for completing the Plot card from the player’s hand are put into the discard pile. Then any special effects take effect. Finally the Plot Card is placed in the Plot Discard Pile and a replacement is drawn from the Plot Card Deck and placed in the empty space. Players may complete as many Plot Cards as they have points to complete.
b. Power or Item cards are purchased by matching (or exceeding) the attribute points on the card. After the points are paid the player takes the card and places it in his discard pile along with any cards from his hand used to pay for the card. They cannot be used until they are drawn into a hand, this includes Artifact Cards. A replacement card is drawn from the Power Deck to replace purchased Power Cards and replacements for the Item Cards are drawn from the Item Deck.

If a player does not have enough points to complete a Plot Card or buy a Power or Item Card, they may use Power tokens to increase an attribute enough to complete the card. Power Tokens used this way are returned to the Power Token Pool.

4. If the player does not buy any cards from the Item Cards or Power Cards available and does not complete a Plot Card they may discard one card from any row.
4. Any unused cards are put into the Player Discard Pile.

Victory Conditions:
There are several ways to play and you the player are free to invent your own.
1. Race to the finish - First player to X points. This is a shorter game good for getting used to the cards and how they work. 20 points is a good start for your first game, 50 points for your first few games. Note that many cards do not work very well in this format. For even faster games consider removing these cards: (give list of cards that are more long term or very expensive).
2. Overpower – The first player to have X more Power for Y turns. A general recommendation would be 20 more Power for 2 or 3 turns. The greater the Power difference and the greater the turns increases the length and complexity o f the games.
3. Complete the Plot – Discarded Plot Cards are not put into the Plot Discard pile, but reshuffled into the Plot Deck. Only completed Plot Cards go into the discard pile. The game ends when the last Plot Card is completed. The winner is the player with the most Power at that point.

That is what I have of the instruction sheet done. I will post more when I get it finished. Also I have a Powerpoint slide show with all the cards on it. (Powerpoint was the easiest way to print them out.) Just send me a pm with your email and I will email them to you.